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Monday 30 May 2005

The World Today is a comprehensive current affairs program which backgrounds, analyses, interprets and encourages debate on events and issues of interest and importance to all Australians. Below is the program summary with links to transcripts and audio (if available).

Govt under pressure over Corby legal aid

First today to the national capital, and the Prime Minister has rejected requests that he contact the Indonesian President over the Schapelle Corby case. John Howard has joined his Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer, in urging Australians not to overreact against Indonesians over the case. But the Federal Government is under pressure over its statement that it offered two QCs to help Schapelle Corby. Ms Corby's legal team says the offer was not made when the Government claims it was. And the Prime Minister has now promised to investigate.

Corby family warn against blaming Indonesians for guilty verdict

The family of convicted drug smuggler Schapelle Corby is also asking Australians not to blame Indonesians for Friday's guilty verdict. Lyn Lack, one of Ms Corby's relatives in Queensland, says people who oppose the ruling should direct their anger at the Indonesian Government and the nation's judiciary.

Fall in company profits points to slowing economy

To the economy now, and the unexpected plummeting in company profits. Official figures out today show that gross company profits fell by 1.7 per cent in the first quarter of the year, a result that's worse than most economists were tipping. And the numbers seem to point to a slowing economy.

St Vincents at odds with Govt over wage gap

One of the nation's major charities is warning today of a dramatic growth in the gap between the rich and the poor in Australia. The St Vincent's de Paul Society says the Federal Government has been selective in the data it uses to back up its assertions that low-income households have been big winners out of Australia's booming economy in the last eight years.

PM promises practical approach to reconciliation

The Prime Minister has today described the plight of many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as "appalling". But he's cautioned that the process of reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians will still take "generations". Addressing a reconciliation conference in Canberra, John Howard repeated his government's message that Australia must focus on practical action as well as symbolic reconciliation. But in contrast to eight years ago when conference delegates turned their backs on the Prime Minister, today he's received a polite reception.

Bracks letter to PM calls for reform cooperation

Is it an olive branch or simply a political ploy aimed at defusing State and Federal tensions before Friday's leaders meeting? This is the question now being asked about the Victorian Premier's appeal to the Prime Minister for a new era of cooperation between the States and the Commonwealth. The letter by Victorian Premier Steve Bracks asks for better cooperation in areas like training, tax and infrastructure. But there are suggestions today that Premier Bracks' peace may in fact incur the wrath of his State counterparts.

France rejects EU constitution

And staying overseas, in France there are celebrations tonight amongst opponents of the proposed European Union constitution, with the treaty now technically dead. Counting of votes in the EU referendum is all but complete, and the majority of voters have rejected the European constitution, which aimed to simplify and strengthen EU bonds. Nine of the 25 other EU countries had already ratified the charter, but according to European law, the 'no' vote from France has scuttled the constitution.

French vote on EU constitution swayed by domestic issues

So how significant is this emphatic no vote for the future of the European Union? Earlier today I spoke to John Gage, who's the Deputy Director of the National Europe Centre at the Australian National University, and I began by asking him why he thought the French people had so overwhelmingly rejected the EU constitution?

Child abuse cases in Qld on the increase

Back to domestic issues now, and you might think that with all the talk in recent years about the prevalence of child abuse, that the incidence of abuse would have started declining. But in Queensland, reported cases of child abuse are actually increasing. The welfare agencies left to deal with child abuse are holding an emergency meeting in Brisbane today to try to work out how to cope with a flood of abuse victims.

Song-writing reveals hidden stories of anorexia patients

The eating disorder anorexia nervosa, which affects mostly young girls, has the highest death rate of any psychiatric illness and is notoriously hard to treat. But there's been a breakthrough with Melbourne University music therapist, Dr Katrina McFerran, set to publish a paper on the role music can play in the treatment of the disorder.